Untitled (Restroom no. 1)
 

2001, site specific installation, Mills College Graduate Studio Building, November 19 - December 7, 2001, spy cameras, monitors, paint, medicine cabinet, medicine, magazines, clothes, towels, dirty laundry, laundry basket, table, radio, cosmetics, toiletries
 
An interactive installation by Liss & Lake.  We transformed the larger of two institutional bathrooms at Mills College into a private bathroom.  By painting the white walls pink and bringing in personal items and removing everything that gave the room an institutional feeling, we created a portrait of a fictitious person who performed the subversive act of inhabiting a public space.  The adjacent restroom remained sparse, utilitarian, and institutional.
 
In addition,  we installed a spy camera and a monitor in each of the restrooms, giving the user of one restroom a glimpse into the adjacent restroom.  The monitors are best viewed from the toilets and the cameras are directed at the sinks.  The empowering notion of observing and being in control is experienced simultaneously with the knowledge of (maybe) being observed.
 
 
 
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